


A Thief in the Night

by Zabeta



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Badass Rey, Clueless Ben Solo, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Raccoon Invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 06:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17442059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zabeta/pseuds/Zabeta
Summary: Raccoons are the cutest, and did you know they are crazy smart? Ben did NOT know that, and now he does.





	A Thief in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> RFFA made me do it, and I'm glad they did. MissCoppelia made it clear because she is a lovely person who writes like nobody's business. The awesome mood board is courtesy of Rissanox, who has more lovely stuff over at Pilllowfort as Spacecactus.

Rey wasn’t sure what had woken her up, but Ben was sitting up beside her already when he asked, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what --” Rey’s mumbling was interrupted by an angry hissing and the yowls of a cat fight, but this one was coming from inside the house, and they only had one cat.

Ben jumped out of bed and ran toward the noise, waving her back with a, “Stay in bed honey, I got this.”

Rey stayed under the covers, but she was still on high alert. The yowls died down and were replaced by a growling that made the hair on Rey’s neck stand up. She could hear Ben talking to BB, trying to soothe her, “C’mon, kitty. You’re ok, you’re ok…Ouch! Damn it, cat!” The growling stopped for a second, and then she heard Ben again, “What the hell? Oh my God, Rey! You need to come here, you need to see this!”

Thinking BB was hurt, Rey jumped up and ran toward the kitchen and the sound of Ben’s voice. He stood there, looking toward the back door. He was struggling with BB, who was on his shoulders and seemed to have his claws out judging from the way Ben was wincing. Rey followed his gaze toward the back door.

It took her a minute to figure out what she was seeing. There was a raccoon standing there on its hind legs, baring its teeth at them. She saw the bottom of a full 20-lb bag of cat food sticking out of the cat door behind the raccoon. Through the window in the door, Rey could see another raccoon, tugging at the bag, which wouldn’t budge.

“Rey, are you seeing this? That raccoon was _pushing the bag out the door_! How the hell…?”

“OK, Ben, I need you to take BB in the other room. Walk slowly please.”

“Wait, is that another raccoon outside? Are they a fucking team?”

“Ben, later, please. Raccoons carry rabies. We don’t want this guy stuck in here any longer than he has to be. OK, you little thief,” she said softly to the raccoon, not moving a muscle she didn’t need to. “How are we going to get you out of here?”

From the other room she could hear that Ben was still talking to the cat, “BB, why are they so much smarter than you? Did you see that guy _pushing_?”

Rey’s heart went out to the masked bandit in front of her, who was clearly scared and angry. She wondered what had been going through its head, trying to bring home twenty pounds of food. She understood the instinct to hoard food, and sympathized with the chutzpah it took to sneak into their house, wander around until they found the food, and then decide to make a break with it. Honestly, they’d worked so hard she thought they’d probably earned it.

She could figure out how to reward their effort later, right after she figured out how to keep her family safe from angry scavengers. She started to reach over the animal to grasp the door knob, but it dropped down onto all fours and hunkered down, growling up at her. She stepped back, murmuring,“Alright, guy. I’m not going to do anything you won’t like. It’s ok…”

At that moment, Ben walked back in the kitchen, “Is he still there? I need a picture - have you ever seen anything like that? I mean, who knew they were so _smart?_ If Hux and Phasma could cooperate like that…”

The raccoon was not happy to see Ben again, and began to growl. Rey waved her hand behind her to get Ben to shut up and go away, but he must have been looking at his phone because he kept up his monologue. When the raccoon decided to leap toward Ben, Rey hollered, “Ben!” But she was still focused on the door, so she took the opportunity to jump forward and yank it open, tugging hard to move the added weight of the food.

She turned to see Ben on a kitchen chair, with the raccoon at his feet. “Shit! That thing is _feral_. Damn it! Get it out, please, Sweetheart?”

Rey stepped back from the door, making a wide circle around her husband and the raccoon keeping him at bay. She slowly made her way toward the raccoon from the other side, encouraging it toward the door, “Out you go. Come on, baby.  Outside. Outside, now.”

The raccoon stood up and sniffed the air, chittered angrily at the pair of them, then turned around and loped out the door. Rey pushed the door shut as soon as his bushy tail cleared the threshold. She started back toward their bedroom, finally feeling the cold on her bare arms and legs.

“Wait, Rey, shouldn’t we get the cat food back?”

“Let them have it; you have better things to do right now.

“I do?”

She shrugged off one spaghetti strap and looked back at him over her naked shoulder before sashaying back to their bedroom.

“Ah, I do.”


End file.
